Russian Antimonopoly Agency (FAS), issued a second warning to Booking.com for some of its anti-competitive practices.
Following to the complaint of “OPORA RUSSIA”, a NGO representing small and medium sized enterprises, the watchdog says that some binding clauses in the agreements made by Booking.com with the hotels were against fair competition.
For instance the Russian authority finds the binding condition -that a hotel could not have better offers at its own website than the conditions shared at the booking.com- is a violation to the anti monopoly law.
Alexey Dotsenko, Deputy Head of the FAS Russia said:
“In the long term, the implementation of the warning and the abolition of parity should have a positive effect not only on hotels, but also on consumers of hotel services, as well as on other aggregators who have recently entered this market or are just about to do so.”
Russian agency issued its first warning to the company in November 2019.
